Sizewell
INVESTIGATIONS have been launched into a leak of radioactive water at the Sizewell A Nuclear Power Station but bosses have insisted there was no risk to people or the environment.
East Anglian Daily Times 17th Sept 2011 more >>
Eastern Daily Press 17th sept 2011 more >>
Protest
Now that the Government is going ahead full tilt with its nuclear power programme, Nuclear Pledge (which began in 2006) has relaunched! Please sign the pledge and ask your friends to join you!
Nuclear Pledge Sept 2011 more >>
Radwaste
Letter from Marianne Birkby: Many thanks to all the 1,530 people who signed the No Nuke Dump petition. The petition calls on Cumbria County Council and Copeland and Allerdale Borough Councils to halt the Managing Radioactive Wastes Safely process. The MRWS process has, in our opinion, one agenda steps towards geological disposal which means a newly mined area (or two or three) stuffed with high level radioactive wastes in a hole(s) bigger than Lake Windermere and as deep as the Eiffel Tower. Radiation Free Lakeland have been accused by the MRWS Partnership of scaremongering. This is the kind of tactical advice provided by a PR company with a lucrative government contract to ensure a positive message about geological disposal.
NW Evening Mail 14th Sept 2011 more >>
Allison Macfarlane: THE earthquake and tsunami that led to the loss of all electrical power and the meltdown of reactors at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant inevitably put nuclear energy back on the front page. It was the worst accident since Chernobyl in 1986. The early public and political backlash was predictable, but precious little commentary emerged on the vexed issue of what to do with the mass of high-level radioactive waste that presented its own threat in the unfolding disaster. We urgently need a well-established plan for the “back end” of the nuclear fuel cycle – the spent fuel rods removed after four to six years in the cores of reactors. Initially they are stored in deep pools at the reactor site due to their heat and radioactivity. But these pools are vulnerable to safety and security threats, such as terrorist attacks, especially when located high above ground level.
New Scientist 24th August 2011 more >>
Companies
The Babcock boss is well-placed to discuss Britain’s post-industrial economy as the 120-year-old company, once a maker of boilers and materials handling equipment, itself moved out of manufacturing just before Rogers took the helm in 2001. Following a string of acquisitions, including the operator of the Devonport Dockyard nuclear submarine base and last July’s purchase of VT Group, which brought services contracts with the Army and the Royal Air Force, Babcock is now a support services company specialising in managing complex assets in mission-critical environments. While its closest rival, outsourcing group Serco, runs hospitals, prisons and local authority education services, Babcock’s contracts range from running weapons systems for submarines to nuclear power station work for EDF and nuclear decommissioning work at Sellafield, Dounreay and other sites for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.
Telegraph 17th Sept 2011 more >>
Japan
Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, a leading proponent of Germany phasing out nuclear power, has said that in the wake of Japans disastrous 11 March Fukushima nuclear accident that the country can both phase out nuclear power and become a pioneer in sources of alternative energy. In an interview with Mainichi newspaper Schroeder said, “Japan is in a position where it is technologically capable of forming different energy policies. Japan could become a pioneer in energy other than nuclear power. Even risks of less realistic dangers like terrorism or airplane accidents must not be ruled out if there is even a slim possibility of them happening. Germany’s safety philosophy is more solid than that of Japan. The massive tsunami could probably have been envisaged, and the fact that it was not envisaged when it should have been is problematic.”
Oil Price 17th Sept 2011 more >>
China
“Fukushima made a huge impact on China’s nuclear industry,” Yun Zhou, a special consultant of Ux Consulting and research fellow at Harvard University, told the WNA Symposium. The country will rethink regulation before returning to full-speed nuclear build.
World Nuclear News 16th Sept 2011 more >>
India
India will disclose its plans to expand its civilian nuclear power generation programs at next weeks 55th annual International Atomic Energy Agency meeting in Vienna.
Oil Price 17th Sept 2011 more >>
Submarines
The MOD nuclear Liabilities Management Strategy.
MOD 15th Sept 2011 more >>
Energy Efficiency
In a corner of a Surrey field, five unusual houses are rising from the ground. Finished, they will look like any of the other 345 properties at Noble Park, a residential development near Epsom, but inside there will be big differences. Crest Nicholson, the developer, hopes they will be the most environmentally friendly homes in Britain. This is not, it claims, about festooning homes with eco bling. There will be no solar panels on the roofs or wind turbines in the gardens. It wants to concentrate on getting energy savings by working on the properties structure. The firm has joined forces with rival housebuilders Barratt and Stewart Milne to explore cutting-edge ways to create greener houses. Crest Nicholsons five test units will be ready for families to move in by the end of the year. They will be complemented by four Barratt properties in Northamptonshire and eight Stewart Milne homes in Lancashire and Scotland. The three companies will then compare how their designs perform and work out how the best ones can be constructed cheaply.
Sunday Times 18th Sept 2011 more >>
Renewables
Wind turbines and solar panels are fast becoming familiar sights at car assembly plants as automakers slash carbon emissions not only of the models they produce, but along the whole production chain. “There’d be little sense in cutting the CO2 emissions of our cars to zero if we’re pumping out tonnes more of the gas to build them,” said Christian Mohrdieck, director for fuel cell and battery drive development at Daimler.
Independent 18th Sept 2011 more >>
Microgeneration
This week’s Micro Power News is now available: East Lindsey District Council going solar; Cornwall switches £15m from solar farms to buildings; Norfolk County Council has decided to set up an energy services company; Generating capacity from small-scale renewable energy installations subsidised by the governments Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) has increased fivefold since the scheme was introduced in 2010.
Microgen Scotland 16th Sept 2011 more >>
Climate
The UK is set to miss climate change targets it is legally bound to meet, according to an independent analysis. Cambridge Econometrics says the UK will narrowly miss carbon budgets up to 2017, and by bigger margins after that.
BBC 16th Sept 2011 more >>
